In
a Top-to-Bottom Shakedown of How to Make a Difference by Exploiting
Best of
Breed Solutions, New Chain Ciena Hotels & Suites will
Bristle with New Guest Facing and Operational Technology

New
concept Ciena has carefully selected technology solutions to improve
hotel
efficiency and profitability
while giving customers what they want –
convenience, options and greater control over their hotel interactions

Chicago—August 21, 2012—
When the newest hotel
in Texas opens its doors in Cotulla in early 2013, staff and guests
will marvel
at a great showcase of the latest technology products under one hotel
roof.
Aside from offering market-leading amenities, such as a custom in-house
movie
theater, Dreamscape bedding, complimentary welcome snack and bottled
water in
every room, plus 24/7 fresh food-and-beverage options, the hotel aims
to boost
profitability in its competitive set by automating many mundane and
labor-intensive procedures.

Bob Zachariah, president and CEO of HotelWorks, parent of
Ciena Hotels & Suites, along with his team carefully selected all
on-site technologies
by focusing on best-of-breed vendors that offer something unique. Ciena
Hotels
& Suites intends to combine these unique solutions into an
efficient and streamlined
operation that has appeal to staff, guests and potential future
franchisees of
the brand. By combining unique technology services within a vibrant
hotel
atmosphere, Ciena is reducing mundane human operations for the benefit
of staff
and providing guests with exciting new options for obtaining the
information
and services they want – exactly how and when they want them. By
harnessing
greater efficiencies, Ciena’s cost model is expected to have huge
appeal to
hoteliers seeking to increase profitability by embracing Ciena’s
business
systems.

Ciena guests will naturally be able to book their room
online. While this is not a huge departure from the current norm, guest
interaction is expected to be much more mobile device biased than is
typical.
The Ciena hotel will offer Mobile Key
by
OpenWays that enables guests to bypass the traditional
requirement to stop
at the front desk to check-in and collect a room key.

“We believe, as technology evolves, one of these days
traditional room keys used could be a thing of the past. For sure, the
use of
plastic keys will diminish as the years go by," Zachariah said. "By
offering guests options and not forcing them to do things our way, they
will enjoy a new found autonomy. This is what our research shows guests
want.
We also plan that our people will be able to spend more time with those
guests
that do want
individual attention than our competitors will be able to,
thereby increasing service at all levels.”

Continuing with the self-service options and theme, Ciena
has also selected the ICE (Interactive Customer Experience™) enterprise
platform from Intelity. The
implementation will include Intelity’s ICE TV, ICE
Mobile and ICE Lobby to allow Ciena guests to make requests and order
services
at the touch of a finger. Zachariah commented on the choice of
Intelity: “We’re
looking at the hotel living concept with a fresh set of eyes. Our
vision
focuses on guest desires for control, content and convenience which
will be
delivered through Intelity’s ICE fully integrated guest service
platform."

A critical part of
the technology jigsaw was the selection of the hotel’s
property-management
system. A key component of the Ciena experience will be its
guest-loyalty
program, and therefore it was vital to choose a flexible PMS with great
guest-loyalty
capabilities. After a vigorous search of several leading PMS options,
Ciena
selected Infor HMS by Infor.
The solution will be implemented as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
based
solution in order to benefit from the functionality, financial and
scalability
advantages offered through the cloud.

While it maybe not so evident
initially to many guests
staying at the property, a huge boon expected to streamline the lives
of staff
and therefore enable better service to guests was the selection of
HotSOS
(Hotel Service Optimization System) by MTech
(part of Newmarket International). HotSOS automates the workflow of the
hotel
and tracks guest request, incidents and fulfillment through an
integrated
platform.

“Our choice of business solutions means that Ciena Hotels
& Suites will offer the highest levels of guest service and
interaction
combined with choices in how guests receive their services," Zachariah
said. "In redefining the guest experience, we will hold true to our
belief
that giving options to customers is the ultimate VIP service. Our
brand promise is based on this research
and customer understanding and we can’t wait to open our doors to the
area’s
most discerning guests. We know they will enjoy an outstanding
experience from
the minute they book with us through to walking straight to their room
and
using all the great services we offer!”

About Ciena Hotels & Resorts
Ciena Hotels
and Suites is owned by HotelWorks Development LLC. With visionary
design and operational
guidance from Bob Zachariah, the company is well funded with the
institutional
financial backing of one of the leading Texas banks. HotelWorks’
international
investors are diverse in background, with interests in the commercial
and
residential real estate development, energy sector, freight forwarding,
high
tech fields, medical, and international business, who together created
a
trailblazing hospitality idea factory dedicated to developing smart and
unique
global hospitality concepts. More information can be found be
visiting www.hotelworksdev.com
and www.cienahotels.com.

About OpenWays
OpenWays is a
global solutions provider of mobile-based access-management and
security
solutions. With offices in Chicago, Las Vegas, Seoul and in Europe,
OpenWays
provides technology solutions allowing for the secure issuance and
delivery of
access rights and keys processed via any cell phone operating on any
network.
The OpenWays solution is truly unique as it is built on the concept of
credential dematerialization. The OpenWays mobile room key solution
works on
ALL
the 6.5 billion cell phones in service in the world today. For more
information, please contact Andrew Sanders at (732) 707-1869 or email asanders@openways.com. More
information can be found by
visiting www.OpenWays.com.

About Intelity
Intelity,
headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is the creator of the world’s first
fully
integrated enterprise platform including an interactive guest services
interface, ICE (Interactive Customer Experience™), with a full,
real-time
backend management tool that measures ROI and integrates with more than
25
hotel management systems from PMS (property management systems), POS
(Point of
Sale), Ticket, Spa, Restaurant, Room Controls and other management
systems. Since
beginning operations in 2007, the hospitality solutions company has
grown
exponentially and become a pioneer in hospitality technology with the
deployment of ICE across four continents serving almost 500 hotels
worldwide,
including all major brands and many significant independents. The
customizable
interface allows guests to arrange services via an in-room touch screen
tablet
(ICE Touch); smartphone (ICE Mobile); TV (ICE TV); laptop (ICE
Connect); or
touch screen (ICE Lobby). The ICE platform has been recognized industry
wide
earning Intelity the industry’s “Most Innovative Hospitality
Technology” award
in a vote by hoteliers and the Business Traveler Innovation Award for
Best
Travel Convenience & Efficiency Innovation.
Become acquainted with ICE and learn what Intelity’s hotel partners are
saying on the Intelity website www.intelitycorp.com.
For more information please call
1-888-RevPAR-1 (1-888-738-7271) or follow us on Twitter (@Intelity).

About Infor
Infor is the
world's third-largest supplier of enterprise applications and services,
helping
more than 70,000 large and mid-size companies improve operations and
drive
growth across numerous industry sectors. To learn more about
Infor,
please visit www.infor.com.

About M-Tech
Since 1993,
MTech, has developed and installed solutions to help hotels work
smarter — not
harder. The company serves more than 2,000 hotels in over 40 countries.
Focused
on improving guest service by improving efficiency, MTech offers
HotSOS,
PMWorks, REX and Libra OnDemand. All MTech solutions today are
enterprise
level, SaaS solutions that offer maximum value with limited investment.
MTech
also provides consulting and training services to help customers
achieve
maximum value from their investments. It serves its customers from data
centers
in Miami, Virginia and Hong Kong, and its company headquarters are in
Miami.
For more information on the company, please visit www.m-tech.com. MTech is a division
of Newmarket
International, Inc. (www.newmarketinc.com).